Smokefree DC is a citizen-based group whose goal is to promote smokefree environments in Washington, DC.
|
By Angela Bradbery, on July 12, 2011
Here’s another silver lining to the day’s events: ANC 3F, whose treasurer is by Bob Summersgill, a member of Smokefree DC’s board, passed a resolution tonight opposing the Council’s weakening of the smokefree law. Here is the text:
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3F
Resolution opposing the Special Event Exemption for Cigar Smoking
Whereas, the Surgeon General has determined* that secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in people who do not smoke; and
Whereas, the National Toxicology Program estimates that at least 250 chemicals in secondhand smoke are known to be toxic or carcinogenic; and secondhand smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide; and
Whereas, secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer; and
Continue reading Neighborhood advisory council condemns D.C. Council’s weakening of smokefree law
By Angela Bradbery, on July 12, 2011
Here’s what the D.C. Council didn’t do today: It didn’t entirely repeal the broad exemption to the smokefree workplaces law that it passed “inadvertently” last month. The language would have permitted 79 hotels to have one cigar-smoking event each year.
But Fight Night, a charity fundraiser, will get to have cigar-smoking at its next event.
The language appears to both attempt to grant the exemption to a class of hotels of which there are 25 in the city while simultaneously attempt to limit the exemption to Fight Night. We are trying to get clarity on it.
The silver lining? Two councilmembers voted along with Councilmember Phil Mendelson’s measure to put the smokefree workplaces law back to where it was before the Council started messing with it. They are Jim Graham (Ward 1) and Mary Cheh (Ward 3). A big thanks to them for doing the right thing.
By Angela Bradbery, on July 11, 2011
In an attempt to correct its previous error, the D.C. Council tomorrow is scheduled to vote on a measure that would permit cigar-smoking at one event: Fight Night, a children’s charity fundraiser.
Recall that last month, the Council inadvertently passed a measure that would permit 79 hotels in the District to hold smoking events every year. It did so without any public notice by passing an amendment to the budget. Great way to make policy. Note that Councilmember Phil Mendelson was the only one who didn’t go along with the notion of weakening the smokefree law and was the only “no” vote.
So tomorrow, they are due to scale back the exemption.
That’s not good enough.
What they should do is repeal the exemption they accidentally passed and leave the smokefree workplace law alone. It is tremendously popular, and we haven’t heard any outcry for it to be weakened — least not for a charity event. You really can’t raise money without allowing cigar-smoking? C’mon.
If the councilmembers really think an exemption is a good idea, then they should be aboveboard. Put a measure through the Health Committee and give the public – and workers who stand to be most harmed by it – a chance to weigh in.
That might be their plan; the measure they are voting on tomorrow is temporary, which means it lasts six months (Fight Night is in the fall).
Tell the Council what you think about it weakening the smokefree law.
In the meantime, here’s a copy of the letter we sent the Council today:
Continue reading D.C. Council to vote Tuesday on smokefree exemption
By Angela Bradbery, on June 22, 2011
 flickr photo courtesy of sebastian6 Here’s an update on the enormous exemption the D.C. Council created in the city’s smokefree workplaces law: They claim it was an accident.
Seriously.
They meant to vote to approve just an exemption for two events a year, Councilmember Mary Cheh (Ward 3) told my colleague, Bob Summersgill. In fact, the Council approved broad language that permits 79 hotels in the city to have cigar-smoking events once a year. Whoops.
So now they are apparently scrambling to “fix” their error.
There are several profoundly disturbing things about this mess:
1) The Council made a major policy change — weakening a phenomenally popular law — without any public notice or chance for public input. (They did it through an amendment to the budget process.)
Continue reading Update: D.C. Council vote on smokefree law exemption was an ‘accident’
By Angela Bradbery, on June 17, 2011
Unbelievable.
Without any public notice or input, the D.C. Council blew a hole on Tuesday in the really popular smokefree workplaces law. By a 12-1 vote on an amendment to the budget, they said that certain hotels could be exempt from the law one night a year.
What a huge disservice to hotel workers. What contempt for the citizens of the District.
Below is a copy of a letter Smokefree DC sent to the Council today. Please email the Council and urge them to repeal the measure. Make sure to thank Councilmember Phil Mendelson for being the only member to vote for worker and public health.
Continue reading Sneak attack on smokefree law
By Angela Bradbery, on June 13, 2011
Microsoft founder Bill Gates was in China recently, and guess what he was doing?
No, he wasn’t talking computers or touting an education initiative. He was talking about secondhand smoke. Specifically, he was raising awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke in a country with a sky-high smoking rate. Said Gates, “Both [traditional and online media] let people know about the damage of forced smoking and give some education about how in a very polite way they can ask people not to put them in that situation.’
Gates appeared with the chief executive of Baidu Inc., which operates China’s counterpart to Google.
A third of the adult population of China smokes, and a million people die annually there of smoking-related illnesses. If action isn’t taken, that number could rise to three million by 2030, experts say.
China has instituted some anemic smokefree laws but it has a long way to go.
Way to go Bill!
By Angela Bradbery, on May 23, 2011
 flickr photo courtesy of lysbyth Way to go Philadelphia; Mayor Michael Nutter has signed an executive order making the city’s pools, playgrounds and recreation centers smokefree.
The change takes effect July 1. It’s great news for parents who don’t want their kids to be exposed to the toxins in secondhand smoke. And great news for the kids too.
But at least one news outlet couldn’t help but editorialize. The local Fox News station called the move “another shot at smokers, further limiting their right to consume a legal product.”
Excuse me? It’s not a ban, despite what headline writers say. The order doesn’t say you can’t smoke – it just says you have to go somewhere else to do it. The mayor is saying that smokers can’t poison the air for others at pools, playgrounds and recreation centers.
Oh, Fox News also counted more than 100 cigarette butts on the ground at the recreation center where the mayor made his announcement.
Given that secondhand smoke has 4,000 chemicals, more than 69 of which are known or suspected carcinogens, and given that the U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and given that studies show the effects of secondhand smoke are particularly acute for children, we say the mayor of Philadelphia did a great thing today.
By Angela Bradbery, on May 4, 2011
 flickr photo courtesy of larding's photostream We have written previously about graduate student Noah Jacobs’ persistence in attempting to get American University to enforce its no-smoking areas around campus buildings. He has shot a video of scofflaws, collected cigarette butts and brought them to the president’s office, and sent letters to university officials. Smokefree DC, in fact, sent a letter calling on AU’s president to make the entire campus smokefree. (See previous posts here, here, here, here and here.)
So far … nothing has happened. We didn’t get a response to our letter. Jacobs has been told that the school is considering the request — which it has been doing for quite a while now. (Really, it’s not that hard, people.)
Last week, Jacobs sent another email inquiring on the progress of his request. Finally, this week, he got a brief response. In short, it said that a representative from another school (presumably Towson University, which has gone smokefree), visited AU recently to speak with university leaders about that school’s experiences with making the entire campus smokefree. They are still mulling the matter over.
Interestingly, the campus representatives seems to think that it will still be a while before anything happens. Here’s what she wrote to Jacobs:
[O]nce you become an alumnus, the AU Alumni Board will available to share your feedback with the university administration.
Jacobs is scheduled to graduate when he finishes his graduate project, which is August.
By Angela Bradbery, on April 24, 2011
 flickr photo courtesy of mae.noelle By 2020, every state will have laws protecting nonsmokers in bars, restaurants and other workplaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts.
That estimate is based on the rate at which states have been adopting smokefree workplaces laws. We went from zero to 25 between 2000 and 2010.
The CDC estimates that nearly half of U.S. residents are protected by a local or state smokefree workplace law.
That’s similar to an estimate by Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, which says that between 47.9 percent and 79.4 percent of the population is covered by local and state smokefree laws, depending on how you slice and dice the data.
By Angela Bradbery, on April 21, 2011
 smoker no. 85 by filtran, courtesy of flickr If they can do it in North Dakota, it can be done anywhere.
North Dakota’s capital city is making bars smokefree. Voters this week approved a smokefree bar measure by 60 percent. What’s more, they rejected a proposal for outdoor smoking huts.
The final tally: 5,273 voted to make bars, truck stops and tobacco stores smokefree while 3,554 voted against. The measure permitting smoking huts was defeated by a 4,482-4,285 margin.
Unlike many cities (such as Washington, D.C.), Bismarck isn’t wasting time in implementing its new law; it takes effect next week.
|
